A first-time Greater Cincinnati founder has raised nearly $2 million in funding for his new venture while inking a deal with the region’s largest homebuilder to kickstart the business.
Builder Backed, a Covington-based tech startup led by CEO and co-founder Paul Koop, raised a $1.99 million seed round in May led by local angel investors.
The startup also recently signed a strategic partnership – its first – with Erlanger-headquartered Fischer Homes.
Builder Backed aims to simplify homeownership. Its platform offers a vetted network of service providers – a “curated Angie’s List,” Koop said – alongside a digital home user guide so owners can quickly access property information – eventually serving as a Carfax for homes.
Fischer, via its service agreement, will offer Builder Backed’s tech to local homeowners set to move into its new builds. Its reach will expand from there.
“It's a pretty unique approach, and no one's really doing this in the space, at least from the perspective of a partnership like this,” Koop told me. “They (the homebuilder) know everything (about the house) from foundation to finishings. They see the whole spectrum. But today, after the home's finished and the warranty period’s up, they say goodbye. I saw that as an opportunity to capture all the information that's going into the house and then help educate homeowners on what they need to do.”
Koop, whose previous career stints included Nielsen and Coupons.com, now known as Quotient, jumped full time into Builder Backed in July 2023.
Koop said he’s always had a passion for entrepreneurship – he had recently moved from a data to sales role as part of that eventual transition: “I knew if I was going to start a business, I needed to know how to sell,” he said.
He noticed a gap in market – during his time at Quotient, he lived in four different houses over a five-year period. There’s required disclosures, sure, “but you learn so much more once you’re actually moved in,” he said.
When he relocated to Boise, Idaho, he also didn’t have any connections to known repair and maintenance companies. His father-in-law, a lifetime tradesman, had always served as that resource in Cincinnati.
Koop said one in 10 homeowners today don’t know the difference between a flat head and Phillips screwdriver. More than 50% don’t own a caulking gun.
“There's a ton of challenges for homeowners, and folks simply aren't using their hands as much as they used to,” he said.
Builder Backed’s platform offers vetted home services network, from which homeowners can book home maintenance, repairs and improvements with access to pricing, updates and detailed service records. Koop said the goal is to make it easier than searching on more traditional sites.
The platform stores information from the builder on the home’s flooring, doors, faucets and more, and the digital home user guide can also send email or text reminders for tasks such as changing air filters or flushing water heaters.
Koop said that ensures all house-related data and maintenance records are tracked and stored. “There’s a third-party service history as to what's happened,” he said.
It’s free for homeowners to use.
The focus, to start, will be on new builds. Builder Backed will launch exclusively this fall to Fischer homeowners in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.
The concept will then expand into other regions where Fischer builds, and in 2025, it will be released to people already living in existing Fischer properties. To date, Fischer has constructed 40,000 homes in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Missouri and northwest Florida.
Koop said he plans to add other builders as well.
Since the startup is headquartered in the region, it wanted to launch with a partner also headquartered here. Fischer Homes said the partnership is about improving customer satisfaction.
“Our partnership with Builder Backed represents a significant stride in enriching the overall customer experience,” Tim McMahon, CEO of Fischer Homes, said in a news release. “We are excited to be able to offer this innovative opportunity to our homeowners as we know that they will be enjoying their new home for years to come.”
Koop said the seed funding will largely be used to expand the team. Builder Backed currently has seven employees and plans to hit a count of 12 to 15 by the end of the year. The goal is to hire locally.
As a company, Builder Backed is largely remote. Koop hopes to move into SparkHaus when it opens, likely next year. Blue North, which serves entrepreneurs in Northern Kentucky, and Kenton County are partnering on a roughly $15 million renovation of the space, the former Sims Furniture store located on Madison Avenue in Covington, with plans to convert it into an entrepreneurial hub, similar to Union Hall in Over-the-Rhine and University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub.
Koop said Builder Backed will pursue additional venture funding. The goal is to get to cashflow positive with the Fischer partnership then grow from there.
“As we see adoption, we’ll look to scale quickly,” he said.
